3 things I've learned in 3 years of leading an associate photography team
You’re sick of turning away dream clients cause you’re already booked, right? You’re considering building a family (or maybe you’re already a mompreneur!) and your work/life balance is completely out of whack.
But you’re equally freaked out at everything that goes into building an associate team.
I get it! I was there 3 years ago when I just went for it and brought on my first associate before figuring out many of the details. I’ve learned a lot along the way, but here are my top 3 tips.
Over communicate + set expectations.
I believe this is the #1 rule to leadership! Over communicate your expectations with your team. This will decrease the amount of conflicts, they’ll know clearly what you expect of them, and overall your relationship will benefit from it. Will they get paid for consults? How soon are they expected to respond to emails with your client? Are they able to use photos they take for you as an associate? If so, how soon can they post them after a wedding? Do you want them to back up the photos? How long do they need to keep the backups?
2. Study your workflows.
Your BTS work will increase with an associate team. You’re taking on more weddings/shoots, so it’s time to study your workflows! What areas need refining? Are there any tasks you’re doing in 3 steps that could be simplified down to 1 step? Do you need to hire anything out to free up your time (like bookkeeping or social media)?
3. Your associates don’t have to look, act, and breathe like you.
I get it, hiring is overwhelming! And when we start to consider building an associate photography team, they’re most likely looking for someone with the same hair color as them and the same personality for their clients to get the same experience as working with us.
That’s where we get into trouble with hiring.
When hiring, you should be looking for the root of someone’s integrity + filter it all through these questions: how do you want your clients to feel? Is this person going to treat them that way?
They can look different than you. they can even have different personalities and perspectives.
*and obviously make sure their work up front aligns with the style you’re looking for. ;) People can be trained in technique, but personality + overall shooting style are harder to train.